Word endings in latin

Pluralization of Latin-based nouns is a complicated field. Preference for Latin or English plural endings is inconsistent in similarly constructed words, as is the presence of alternative forms at all.

Here’s a guide to plural forms for Latin words, identifying, for more than a hundred nouns of Latin origin and a few similarly constructed terms from other languages, which ending among two or three alternatives is preferred for particular words or in which contexts various alternative forms are employed. When two or more alternatives are listed, the first is the more (or most) common.

Words ending in a, plural -s or -ae

alga: algae or algas
antenna: antennas or antennae (only antennae is correct for the sensory organs on animals; antennas in more common in other contexts)
formula: formulas or formulae
larva: larvae or larvas
nebula: nebulae or nebulas: the former ending is employed in astronomy, and the latter applies in medical contexts
vertebra: vertebrae or vertebras (vertebrae is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to a single vertebra)

Words ending in ex, plural -exes or -ices

apex: apexes or apices
index: indexes or indices
vortex: vortices or vortexes

Words ending in eau, plural -eaus or -eaux

bureau: bureaus or bureaux (the latter form is rare for this word and the other two in this category)
château: châteaus or châteaux
plateau: plateaus or plateaux

Words ending in ion, plural -ia

criterion: criteria
ganglion: ganglia or ganglions

Words ending in is, plural -es

analysis: analyses
axis: axes
basis: bases
crisis: crises
diagnosis: diagnoses
ellipsis: ellipses
hypothesis: hypotheses
oasis: oases
paralysis: paralyses
parenthesis: parentheses
synopsis: synopses
synthesis: syntheses
thesis: theses

Words ending in ix

appendix: appendixes or appendices
matrix: matrices or matrixes

Words ending in o, plural -os or -i

graffito: graffiti (the plural form is almost invariable used in place of the singular form)
libretto: librettos or libretti
virtuoso: virtuosos or virtuosi

Words ending in o, plural -os or -oes

armadillo: armadillos
avocado: avocados or avocadoes
banjo: banjos or banjoes
bistro: bistros
calypso: calypsos or calypsoes (the former spelling pertains to either the flower or the music style, and the latter form applies only to the music form)
cargo: cargoes or cargos
casino: casinos
contralto: contraltos
dingo: dingoes
domino: dominoes or dominos
dynamo: dynamos
echo: echoes or echos
ego: egos
embargo: embargoes
flamingo: flamingos or flamingoes
folio: folios
grotto: grottoes or grottos
hero: heroes
hippo: hippos
innuendo: innuendos or innuendoes
lasso: lassos or lassoes
mango: mangoes or mangos
motto: mottoes
paparazzo: paparazzi
pistachio: pistachios
portfolio: portfolios
potato: potatoes
radio: radios
ratio: ratios
rhino: rhinos or rhino
stiletto: stilettos or stilettoes
studio: studios
tornado: tornadoes or tornados
torpedo: torpedoes
veto: vetoes
volcano: volcanoes or volcanos
weirdo: weirdos

Words ending in oo, plural -oos

cockatoo: cockatoos
kangaroo: kangaroos
zoo: zoos

Words ending in um, plural -a or -ums

addendum: addenda or addendums
agendum: agenda or agendums (agenda is almost invariably used in place of the singular form, and agendums is rare)
aquarium: aquariums or aquaria
atrium: atria or atriums
bacterium: bacteria
candelabrum: candelabra or candelabrums
corrigendum: corrigenda
curriculum: curricula or curriculums
datum: data or datums (data is often used as a mass noun, taking a singular verb and being substituted by a singular pronoun)
erratum: errata
gymnasium: gymnasiums or gymnasia
maximum: maxima or maximums
medium: mediums or media (media is the correct alternative to refer to forms of expression or information or in biological contexts)
memorandum: memorandums or memoranda
millennium: millennia or millenniums
minimum: minima or minimums
moratorium: moratoriums or moratoria
podium: podiums or podia
referendum: referenda or referendums
spectrum: spectra or spectrums
stratum: strata
symposium: symposiums or symposia

Words ending in us, plural -uses or -i

alumnus/alumna: alumni or alumnae (alumnus refers to a man and alumna to a woman, alumni pertains to men or to men and women and alumnae to women; alumni is often employed in the singular, and alum/alums are used informally as gender-neutral singular and plural forms)
bacillus: bacilli
cactus: cacti or cactuses
focus: foci or focuses
fungus: fungi or funguses
hippopotamus: hippopotamuses or hippopotami
locus: loci
narcissus: narcissi or narcissuses or narcissus
platypus: platypuses or platypi
radius: radii or radiuses
stimulus: stimuli
syllabus: syllabi or syllabuses
terminus: termini or terminuses

Words ending in on, plural -a or -ons

automaton: automotons or automata
phenomenon: phenomena or phenomenons

Assorted

cherub: cherubim or cherubs (the former alternative applies to angels and the latter pertains to depictions of winged children or to cherubic-looking people)
rhinoceros: rhinoceroses or rhinoceros or rhinoceri
seraph: seraphim or seraphs

Latin declension is the set of patterns according to which Latin words are declined—that is, have their endings altered to show grammatical case, number and gender. Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives are declined (verbs are conjugated), and a given pattern is called a declension. There are five declensions, which are numbered and grouped by ending and grammatical gender. Each noun follows one of the five declensions, but some irregular nouns have exceptions.

Adjectives are of two kinds: those like bonus, bona, bonum ‘good’ use first-declension endings for the feminine, and second-declension for masculine and neuter. Other adjectives such as celer, celeris, celere belong to the third declension. There are no fourth- or fifth-declension adjectives.

Pronouns are also of two kinds, the personal pronouns such as ego ‘I’ and tū ‘you (sg.)’, which have their own irregular declension, and the third-person pronouns such as hic ‘this’ and ille ‘that’ which can generally be used either as pronouns or adjectivally. These latter decline in a similar way to the first and second noun declensions, but there are differences; for example the genitive singular ends in -īus or -ius instead of -ī or -ae.

The cardinal numbers ūnus ‘one’, duo ‘two’, and trēs ‘three’ also have their own declensions (ūnus has genitive -īus like a pronoun). However, numeral adjectives such as bīnī ‘a pair, two each’ decline like ordinary adjectives.

Grammatical cases[edit]

A complete Latin noun declension consists of up to seven grammatical cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative and locative. However, the locative is limited to a few nouns: generally names of cities, small islands and a few other words.

The case names are often abbreviated to the first three letters, for example, «nom.» for «nominative».

Order of cases[edit]

The grammarian Aelius Donatus (4th century AD), whose work was used as standard throughout the Middle Ages, placed the cases in this order:

casus sunt sex: nominativus, genetivus, dativus, accusativus, vocativus, ablativus.^[1]

«There are six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative and ablative.»

This order was based on the order used by earlier Greek grammarians, with the addition of the ablative, which does not exist in Greek. The names of the cases also were mostly translated from the Greek terms, such as accusativus from the Greek αἰτῐᾱτῐκή.

The traditional order was formerly used in England, for example in The School and University Eton Latin Grammar (1861).^[2] and it is also still used in Germany and most European countries. Gildersleeve and Lodge’s Latin Grammar of 1895, also follows this order. More recent American grammars, such as Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar (1903) and Wheelock’s Latin (first published in 1956), use this order but with the vocative at the end.

However, in Britain and countries influenced by Britain, the Latin cases are usually given in the following order: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative. This order was first introduced in Benjamin Hall Kennedy’s Latin Primer (1866), with the aim of making tables of declensions easier to recite and memorise (the first three and the last two cases having identical forms in several declensions). It is also used in France^[3] and Belgium.^[4]

Syncretism[edit]

Syncretism, where one form in a paradigm shares the ending of another form in the paradigm, is common in Latin. The following are the most notable patterns of syncretism:

Gender-specific[edit]

• For pure Latin neuter nouns, the nominative singular, vocative singular, and accusative singular are identical; and the nominative plural, vocative plural, and accusative plural all end in -a. (Both of these features are inherited from Proto-Indo-European, and so no actual syncretism is known to have happened in the historical sense, since these cases of these nouns are not known to have ever been different in the first place.)

Case-specific[edit]

• The vocative form is always the same as the nominative in the plural, and usually the same as the nominative in the singular except for second-declension masculine nouns ending in -us and a few nouns of Greek origin. For example, the vocative of the first-declension Aenēās is Aenēā.
• The genitive singular is the same as the nominative plural in first-, second-, and fourth-declension masculine and feminine pure Latin nouns.
• The dative singular is the same as the genitive singular in first- and fifth-declension pure Latin nouns.
• The dative is always the same as the ablative in the singular in the second declension, the third-declension full i-stems (i.e. neuter i-stems, adjectives), and fourth-declension neuters.
• The dative, ablative, and locative are always identical in the plural.
• The locative is identical to the ablative in the fourth and fifth declensions.

History of cases[edit]

Old Latin had essentially two patterns of endings. One pattern was shared by the first and second declensions, which derived from the Proto-Indo-European thematic declension. The other pattern was used by the third, fourth and fifth declensions, and derived from the athematic PIE declension.

Nouns[edit]

There are two principal parts for Latin nouns: the nominative singular and the genitive singular. Each declension can be unequivocally identified by the ending of the genitive singular (-ae, —i, —is, —ūs, —ei). The stem of the noun can be identified by the form of the genitive singular as well.

There are five declensions for Latin nouns:

First declension (a stems)[edit]

Nouns of this declension usually end in -a in the nominative singular and are mostly feminine, e.g. via, viae f. (‘road’) and aqua, aquae f. (‘water’). There is a small class of masculine exceptions generally referring to occupations, e.g. poēta, poētae m. (‘poet’), agricola, agricolae m. (‘farmer’), auriga, aurigae m. (‘auriga, charioteer’), pīrāta, pīrātae m. (‘pirate’) and nauta, nautae m. (‘sailor’).

The predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is a. The nominative singular form consists of the stem and the ending -a, and the genitive singular form is the stem plus -ae.

	First declension paradigm
Singular	Plural
Nominative	-a	-ae
Vocative
Accusative	-am	-ās
Genitive	-ae	-ārum
Dative	-īs
Ablative	-ā
Locative	Gen.	Dat.

	mensa, mensae table (f.)	poēta, poētae poet (m.)
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mensa	mensae	poēta	poētae
Vocative
Accusative	mensam	mensās	poētam	poētās
Genitive	mensae[i]	mensārum	poētae	poētārum
Dative	mensīs	poētīs
Ablative	mensā	poētā

The locative endings for the first declension are -ae (singular) and -īs (plural), similar to the genitive singular and ablative plural, as in mīlitiae ‘in war’ and Athēnīs ‘at Athens’.^[5]

First declension Greek nouns[edit]

The first declension also includes three types of Greek loanwords, derived from Ancient Greek’s alpha declension. They are declined irregularly in the singular, but sometimes treated as native Latin nouns, e.g. nominative athlēta (‘athlete’) instead of the original athlētēs. Archaic (Homeric) first declension Greek nouns and adjectives had been formed in exactly the same way as in Latin: nephelēgeréta Zeus (‘Zeus the cloud-gatherer’) had in classical Greek become nephelēgerétēs.

For full paradigm tables and more detailed information, see the Wiktionary appendix First declension.

Second declension (o stems)[edit]

The second declension is a large group of nouns consisting of mostly masculine nouns like equus, equī (‘horse’) and puer, puerī (‘boy’) and neuter nouns like castellum, castellī (‘fort’). There are several small groups of feminine exceptions, including names of gemstones, plants, trees, and some towns and cities.

In the nominative singular, most masculine nouns consist of the stem and the ending -us, although some end in -er, which is not necessarily attached to the complete stem. Neuter nouns generally have a nominative singular consisting of the stem and the ending -um. However, every second-declension noun has the ending -ī attached as a suffix to the root of the noun in the genitive singular form. The predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is o.

	Second declension paradigm
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Neuter	Masculine	Neuter
Nominative	-us	-um	-ī	-a
Vocative	-e
Accusative	-um	-ōs
Genitive	-ī	-ōrum
Dative	-ō	-īs
Ablative
Locative	Gen.	Dat.

Masculine

	dominus, dominī master m.
Singular	Plural
Nominative	dominus	dominī
Vocative	domine
Accusative	dominum	dominōs
Genitive	dominī	dominōrum
Dative	dominō	dominīs
Ablative

Neuter

	bellum, bellī war n.
Singular	Plural
Nominative	bellum	bella
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	bellī	bellōrum
Locative	bellīs
Dative	bellō
Ablative

The locative endings for the second declension are -ī (singular) and -īs (plural); Corinthī «at Corinth», Mediolānī «at Milan», and Philippīs «at Philippi».^[6]

Second-declension -ius and -ium nouns[edit]

Nouns ending in -ius and -ium have a genitive singular in -ī in earlier Latin, which was regularized to -iī in the later language. Masculine nouns in -ius have a vocative singular in -ī at all stages. These forms in -ī are stressed on the same syllable as the nominative singular, sometimes in violation of the usual Latin stress rule. For example, the genitive and vocative singular Vergilī (from Vergilius) is pronounced Vergílī, with stress on the penult, even though it is short.^[7] In Old Latin, however, the vocative was declined regularly, using -ie instead, e.g. fīlie «[O] son», archaic vocative of fīlius.

There is no contraction of -iī(s) in plural forms and in the locative.

	fīlius, filiī son m.	auxilium, auxiliī aid, help n.
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fīlius	fīliī	auxilium	auxilia
Vocative	fīlī
Accusative	fīlium	fīliōs
Genitive	fīliī	fīliōrum	auxiliī	auxiliōrum
Dative	fīliō	fīliīs	auxiliō	auxiliīs
Ablative

In the older language, nouns ending with -vus, -quus and -vum take o rather than u in the nominative and accusative singular. For example, servus, servī (‘slave’) could be servos, accusative servom.

Second-declension -r nouns[edit]

Some masculine nouns of the second declension end in -er or -ir in the nominative singular. The declension of these nouns is identical to that of the regular second declension, except for the lack of suffix in the nominative and vocative singular.

Some (but not all) nouns in -er drop the e genitive and other cases. For example, socer, socerī (‘father-in-law’) keeps its e. However, the noun magister, magistrī (‘(school)master’) drops its e in the genitive singular.

For declension tables of second-declension nouns, see the corresponding Wiktionary appendix.

	puer, puerī boy m.	ager, agrī field m.	vir, virī man m.
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	puer	puerī	ager	agrī	vir	virī
Vocative
Accusative	puerum	puerōs	agrum	agrōs	virum	virōs
Genitive	puerī	puerōrum	agrī	agrōrum	virī	virōrum (virum)
Dative	puerō	puerīs	agrō	agrīs	virō	virīs
Ablative

The vocative puere is found but only in Plautus.^[8] The genitive plural virum is found in poetry.^[9]

Second-declension Greek nouns[edit]

The second declension contains two types of masculine Greek nouns and one form of neuter Greek noun. These nouns are irregular only in the singular, as are their first-declension counterparts. Greek nouns in the second declension are derived from the Omicron declension.

Some Greek nouns may also be declined as normal Latin nouns. For example, theātron can appear as theātrum.

Irregular forms[edit]

Deus[edit]

The inflection of deus, deī (‘god’) is irregular. The vocative singular of deus is not attested in Classical Latin. In Ecclesiastical Latin the vocative of Deus (‘God’) is Deus.

In poetry, -um may substitute -ōrum as the genitive plural ending.

	deus, deī god m.
Singular	Plural
Nominative	deus	deī diī dī
Vocative
Accusative	deum	deōs
Genitive	deī	deōrum deum
Dative	deō	deīs diīs dīs
Ablative

Virus[edit]

The Latin word vīrus (the ī indicates a long i) means «1. slimy liquid, slime; 2. poison, venom», denoting the venom of a snake. This Latin word is probably related to the Greek ῑ̓ός (ios) meaning «venom» or «rust» and the Sanskrit word विष viṣa meaning «toxic, poison».^[10]

Since vīrus in antiquity denoted something uncountable, it was a mass noun. Mass nouns pluralize only under special circumstances, hence the non-existence of plural forms in the texts.^[11]

In Neo-Latin, a plural form is necessary in order to express the modern concept of ‘viruses’, which leads to the following declension:^[12][13][14]

	vīrus, vīrī poison, venom, virus n.
Singular	Plural
Nominative	vīrus	vīra
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	vīrī[i]	vīrōrum
Dative	vīrō	vīrīs
Ablative

Third declension[edit]

The third declension is the largest group of nouns. The nominative singular of these nouns may end in -a, -e, -ī, -ō, -y, -c, -l, -n, -r, -s, -t, or -x. This group of nouns includes masculine, neuter, and feminine nouns.

Consonant stems[edit]

The stem of a consonant-stem noun may be found from the genitive case by removing the ending -is. For example, the stem of pāx, pācis f. ‘peace’ is pāc-, the stem of flūmen, flūminis n. ‘river’ is flūmin-, and the stem of flōs, flōris m. ‘flower’ is flōr-.

Masculine, feminine and neuter nouns often have their own special nominative singular endings. For instance, many masculine nouns end in -or (amor, amōris, ‘love’). Many feminine nouns end in -īx (phoenīx, phoenīcis, ‘phoenix’), and many neuter nouns end in -us with an r stem in the oblique cases (onus, oneris ‘burden’; tempus, temporis ‘time’).

	Third declension paradigm (consonant stems)
Masculine & feminine	Neuter
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	(-s)	-ēs	—[i]	-a
Vocative
Accusative	-em
Genitive	-is	-um	-is	-um
Dative	-ī	-ibus	-ī	-ibus
Ablative	-e	-e
Locative	Dat./Abl.	Dat.	Dat./Abl.	Dat.

	dux, ducis leader m.	virtūs, virtūtis virtue f.	nōmen, nōminis name n.
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dux	ducēs	virtūs	virtūtēs	nōmen	nōmina
Vocative
Accusative	ducem	virtūtem
Genitive	ducis	ducum	virtūtis	virtūtum	nōminis	nōminum
Dative	ducī	ducibus	virtūtī	virtūtibus	nōminī	nōminibus
Ablative	duce	virtūte	nōmine

The locative endings for the third declension are -ī or -e (singular) and -ibus (plural), as in rūrī ‘in the country’ and Trallibus ‘at Tralles’.^[15]

Third declension i-stem and mixed nouns[edit]

The third declension also has a set of nouns that are declined differently. They are called i-stems. i-stems are broken into two subcategories: pure and mixed. Pure i-stems are indicated by special neuter endings. Mixed i-stems are indicated by the double consonant rule. Stems indicated by the parisyllabic rule are usually mixed, occasionally pure.

Masculine and feminine

Parisyllabic rule: Some masculine and feminine third-declension i-stem nouns have the same number of syllables in the genitive as they do in the nominative. For example: nāvis, nāvis (‘ship’); nūbēs, nūbis (‘cloud’). The nominative ends in -is or -ēs.

Double consonant rule: The rest of the masculine and feminine third-declension i-stem nouns have two consonants before the -is in the genitive singular. For example: pars, partis (‘part’).

Neuter

Special neuter ending: Neuter third-declension i-stems have no rule. However, all of them end in -al, -ar or -e. For example: animal, animālis (‘animal’); cochlear, cochleāris (‘spoon’); mare, maris (‘sea’).

The mixed declension is distinguished from the consonant type only by having -ium in the genitive plural (and occasionally -īs in the accusative plural). The pure declension is characterized by having -ī in the ablative singular, -ium in the genitive plural, -ia in the nominative and accusative plural neuter, and -im in the accusative singular masculine and feminine (however, adjectives have -em).

The accusative plural ending -īs is found in early Latin up to Virgil, but from the early empire onwards it was replaced by -ēs.^[16]

The accusative singular ending -im is found only in a few words: always in tussis ‘cough’, sitis ‘thirst’, Tiberis ‘River Tiber’; usually in secūris ‘axe’, turris ‘tower’; occasionally in nāvis ‘ship’. Most nouns, however, have accusative singular -em.^[17]

The ablative singular -ī is found in nouns which have -im, and also, optionally, in some other nouns, e.g. in ignī or in igne ‘in the fire’.

There are two mixed-declension neuter nouns: cor, cordis (‘heart’) and os, ossis (‘bone’). Also, the mixed declension is used in the plural-only adjective plūrēs, plūra (‘most’).

	Third declension paradigm (i-stem nouns)
Masculine & Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	—	-ēs	—	-ia
Vocative
Accusative	-em -im	-ēs -īs
Genitive	-is	-ium	-is	-ium
Dative	-ī	-ibus	-ī	-ibus
Ablative	-e -ī
Locative	Dat./Abl.	Dat.	Dat./Abl.	Dat.

	Third declension paradigm (mixed nouns)
Masculine & Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	—	-ēs	—	-a
Vocative
Accusative	-em	-ēs -īs
Genitive	-is	-ium	-is	-ium
Dative	-ī	-ibus	-ī	-ibus
Ablative	-e	-e
Locative	Dat./Abl.	Dat.	Dat./Abl.	Dat.

	turris, turris tower f. (pure)	pars, partis part, piece f. (mixed)	animal, animālis animal, living being n. (pure)
Parisyllabic rule	Double consonant rule	Special neuter ending
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	turris	turrēs	pars	partēs	animal	animālia
Vocative
Accusative	turrem turrim	turrēs turrīs	partem	partēs partīs
Genitive	turris	turrium	partis	partium	animālis	animālium
Dative	turrī	turribus	partī	partibus	animālī	animālibus
Ablative	turre turrī	parte (partī)

The rules for determining i-stems from non-i-stems and mixed i-stems are guidelines rather than rules: many words that might be expected to be i-stems according to the parisyllabic rule actually are not, such as canis (‘dog’) or iuvenis (‘youth’), which have genitive plural canum ‘of dogs’ and iuvenum ‘of young men’. Likewise, pater (‘father’), māter (‘mother’), frāter (‘brother’), and parēns (‘parent’) violate the double-consonant rule. This fluidity even in Roman times resulted in much more uncertainty in Medieval Latin.

Some nouns in -tāt-, such as cīvitās, cīvitātis ‘city, community’ can have either consonant-stem or i-stem genitive plural: cīvitātum or cīvitātium ‘of the cities’.^[16]

Peculiarities[edit]

In the third declension, there are four irregular nouns.

Case	vīs, vīs force, power f.	sūs, suis swine, pig, hog m.f.	bōs, bovis ox, bullock m.f.	Iuppiter, Iovis Jupiter m.
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular
Nominative	vīs	vīrēs	sūs	suēs	bōs[i]	bovēs	Iuppiter Iūpiter[i]
Vocative
Accusative	vim	vīrēs vīrīs	suem	bovem	Iovem
Genitive	vīs[ii]	vīrium	suis	suum	bovis	boum bovum	Iovis
Dative	vī[ii]	vīribus	suī	suibus sūbus	bovī	bōbus būbus[i]	Iovī
Ablative	sue	bove	Iove

Fourth declension (u stems)[edit]

The fourth declension is a group of nouns consisting of mostly masculine words such as flūctus, flūctūs m. (‘wave’) and portus, portūs m. (‘port’) with a few feminine exceptions, including manus, manūs f. (‘hand’) and domus, domūs f. (‘house’). The fourth declension also includes several neuter nouns including genū, genūs n. (‘knee’). Each noun has the ending -ūs as a suffix attached to the root of the noun in the genitive singular form. The predominant letter in the ending forms of this declension is u, but the declension is otherwise very similar to the third-declension i stems.

	Fourth declension paradigm
-us ending nouns	-ū ending nouns
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-us	-ūs	-ū	-ua
Vocative
Accusative	-um
Genitive	-ūs	-uum	-ūs	-uum
Dative	-uī	-ibus -ubus[i]	-ū	-ibus
Ablative	-ū
Locative	-ī	Dat.	-ī	Dat.

	portus, portūs port m.	genū, genūs knee n.
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	portus	portūs	genū	genua
Vocative
Accusative	portum
Genitive	portūs	portuum	genūs	genuum
Dative	portuī	portibus	genū	genibus
Ablative	portū

• In the genitive singular, cornūs may in later times be replaced by cornū.

• The locative endings for the fourth declension are -ī (singular) and -ibus (plural); senātī «at [the] senate», domī «at home».

Domus[edit]

Domus (‘house, dwelling, building, home, native place, family, household, race’) is an irregular noun, mixing fourth and second declension nouns at the same time (especially in literature). However, in practice, it is generally declined as a regular -us stem fourth declension noun (except by the ablative singular and accusative plural, using -ō and -ōs instead).^[18]

	domus, domūs/domī f.
All possible declensions
Singular	Plural
Nominative	domus	domūs
Vocative
Accusative	domum	domūs domōs
Genitive	domūs domī	domuum domōrum
Dative	domuī domū domō	domibus
Ablative	domū domō
Locative	domī

	domus, domūs f.
Most common paradigm
Singular	Plural
Nominative	domus	domūs
Vocative
Accusative	domum	domōs
Genitive	domūs	domuum
Dative	domuī	domibus
Ablative	domō
Locative	domī

Fifth declension (e stems)[edit]

The fifth declension is a small group of nouns consisting of mostly feminine nouns like rēs, reī f. (‘affair, matter, thing’) and diēs, diēī m. (‘day’; but f. in names of days). Each noun has either the ending -ēī or -eī as a suffix attached to the root of the noun in the genitive singular form.

	Fifth declension paradigm
-iēs ending nouns	-ēs ending nouns
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-iēs	-iēs	-ēs	-ēs
Vocative
Accusative	-iem	-em
Genitive	-iēī	-iērum	-eī	-ērum
Dative	-iēbus	-ēbus
Ablative	-iē	-ē
Locative	Abl.	Abl.	Abl.	Abl.

	diēs, diēī day m., f.	rēs, reī thing f.
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	diēs	diēs	rēs	rēs
Vocative
Accusative	diem	rem
Genitive	diēī	diērum	reī	rērum
Dative	diēbus	rēbus
Ablative	diē	rē

Nouns ending in -iēs have long ēī in the dative and genitive, while nouns ending in a consonant + -ēs have short eī in these cases.

The locative ending of the fifth declension was -ē (singular only), identical to the ablative singular, as in hodiē (‘today’).

Pronouns[edit]

Personal pronouns[edit]

The first and second persons are irregular, and both pronouns are indeclinable for gender; and the third person reflexive pronoun sē, suī always refers back to the subject, regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural.

	First Person	Second Person	Third Person
ego, nōs I, we	tū, vōs you	sē, suī himself, herself, itself, oneself, themselves
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ego egō	nōs	tū	vōs	—
Accusative	mē	tē	sē sēsē
Genitive complements	meī	nostrī	tuī	vestrī	suī
Genitive partitive	—	nostrum	—	vestrum	—
Dative	mihi mihī	nōbīs	tibi tibī	vōbīs	sibi sibī
Ablative	mē	tē	sē sēsē

The genitive forms meī, tuī, nostrī, vestrī, suī are used as complements in certain grammatical constructions, whereas nostrum, vestrum are used with a partitive meaning (‘[one] of us’, ‘[one] of you’). To express possession, the possessive pronouns (essentially adjectives) meus, tuus, noster, vester are used, declined in the first and second declensions to agree in number and case with the thing possessed, e.g. pater meus ‘my father’, māter mea ‘my mother’. The vocative singular masculine of meus is mī: mī Attice ‘my dear Atticus’.^[19]

Possessive pronouns’ declensions[edit]

	meus, mea, meum my, mine
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	meus	mea	meum	meī	meae	mea
Vocative	mī
Accusative	meum	meam	meōs	meās
Genitive	meī	meae	meī	meōrum	meārum	meōrum
Dative	meō	meō	meīs
Ablative	meā

	tuus, tua, tuum your, yours (for singular possessor)
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	tuus	tua	tuum	tuī	tuae	tua
Vocative
Accusative	tuum	tuam	tuōs	tuās
Genitive	tuī	tuae	tuī	tuōrum	tuārum	tuōrum
Dative	tuō	tuō	tuīs
Ablative	tuā

	suus, sua, suum his, her, its, theirs (reflexive)
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	suus	sua	suum	suī	suae	sua
Vocative
Accusative	suum	suam	suōs	suās
Genitive	suī	suae	suī	suōrum	suārum	suōrum
Dative	suō	suō	suīs
Ablative	suā

	noster, nostra, nostrum our, ours
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	noster	nostra	nostrum	nostrī	nostrae	nostra
Vocative
Accusative	nostrum	nostram	nostrōs	nostrās
Genitive	nostrī	nostrae	nostrī	nostrōrum	nostrārum	nostrōrum
Dative	nostrō	nostrō	nostrīs
Ablative	nostrā

The possessive adjective vester has an archaic variant, voster; similar to noster.

	vester, vestra, vestrum voster, vostra, vostrum your, yours (for plural possessor)
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	vester voster	vestra vostra	vestrum vostrum	vestrī vostrī	vestrae vostrae	vestra vostra
Vocative
Accusative	vestrum vostrum	vestram vostram	vestrōs vostrōs	vestrās vostrās
Genitive	vestrī vostrī	vestrae vostrae	vestrī vostrī	vestrōrum vostrōrum	vestrārum vostrārum	vestrōrum vostrōrum
Dative	vestrō vostrō	vestrō vostrō	vestrīs vostrīs
Ablative	vestrā vostrā

Usually, to show the ablative of accompaniment, cum would be added to the ablative form. However, with personal pronouns (first and second person), the reflexive and the interrogative, -cum is added onto the end of the ablative form. That is: mēcum ‘with me’, nōbīscum ‘with us’, tēcum ‘with you’, vōbīscum, sēcum and quōcum (sometimes quīcum).

Pronouns have also an emphatic form bi using the suffix -met (egomet, tūte/tūtemet, nosmet, vosmet), used in all cases, except by the genitive plural forms.

In accusative case, the forms mēmē and tētē exist as emphatic, but they are not widely used.

Sē, suī has a possessive adjective: suus, sua, suum, meaning ‘his/her/its/their own’:

Patrem suum numquam vīderat. (Cicero)^[20]

«He had never seen his [own] father.»

When ‘his’ or ‘her’ refers to someone else, not the subject, the genitive pronoun eius (as well as eōrum and eārum) ‘of him’ is used instead of suus:

Fit obviam Clodiō ante fundum eius. (Cicero)^[21]

«He met Clodius in front of the latter’s farm.»

When one sentence is embedded inside another with a different subject, sē and suus can refer to either subject:

Patrēs conscrīptī … lēgātōs in Bīthȳniam miserunt quī ab rēge peterent, nē inimīcissimum suum secum haberet sibique dēderet. (Nepos)^[22]

«The senators … sent ambassadors to Bithynia, who were to ask the king not to keep their greatest enemy with him but hand him over to them.»

For the third-person pronoun is ‘he’, see below.

Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives[edit]

Relative, demonstrative and indefinite pronouns are generally declined like first and second declension adjectives, with the following differences:

• the nominatives are often irregular
• the genitive singular ends in -īus rather than -ae or -ī.
• the dative singular ends in -ī: rather than -ae or -ō.

These differences characterize the pronominal declension, and a few special adjectives (tōtus ‘whole’, sōlus ‘alone’, ūnus ‘one’, nūllus ‘no’, alius ‘another’, alter ‘another [of two]’, etc.) are also declined according to this pattern.

All demonstrative, relative, and indefinite pronouns in Latin can also be used adjectivally, with some small differences; for example in the interrogative pronoun, quis ‘who?’ and quid ‘what?’ are usually used for the pronominal form, quī and quod ‘which?’ for the adjectival form.

Third person pronoun[edit]

The weak demonstrative pronoun is, ea, id ‘that’ also serves as the third person pronoun ‘he, she, it’:

	Third person
is, ea, id he, she, it
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	is	ea	id	eī iī	eae	ea
Accusative	eum	eam	eōs	eās
Genitive	eius	eōrum	eārum	eōrum
Dative	eī	eīs iīs
Ablative	eō	eā	eō

This pronoun is also often used adjectivally, e.g. is homo ‘that man’, ea pecunia ‘that money’. It has no possessive adjective; the genitive is used instead: pater eius ‘his/her father’; pater eōrum ‘their father’.

Declension of īdem[edit]

The pronoun or pronominal adjective īdem, eadem, idem means ‘the same’. It is derived from is with the suffix -dem. However, some forms have been assimilated.

	īdem, eadem, idem the same, same as
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	īdem	eadem	idem	eīdem īdem iīdem	eaedem	eadem
Accusative	eundem	eandem	eōsdem	eāsdem
Genitive	eiusdem	eōrundem	eārundem	eōrundem
Dative	eīdem	eīsdem īsdem iīsdem
Ablative	eōdem	eādem	eōdem

Other demonstrative pronouns[edit]

Similar in declension is alius, alia, aliud ‘another’.

Intensive pronoun[edit]

	ipse, ipsa, ipsum himself, herself, itself
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ipse	ipsa	ipsum	ipsi	ipsae	ipsa
Accusative	ipsum	ipsam	ipsōs	ipsās
Genitive	ipsīus	ipsōrum	ipsārum	ipsōrum
Dative	ipsī	ipsīs
Ablative	ipsō	ipsā	ipsō

Interrogative pronouns[edit]

The interrogative pronouns are used strictly for asking questions. They are distinct from the relative pronoun and the interrogative adjective (which is declined like the relative pronoun). Interrogative pronouns rarely occur in the plural. The plural interrogative pronouns are the same as the plural relative pronouns.

Singular

	quis? quid? who?, what?
Masculine & Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	quis?	quid?
Accusative	quem?
Genitive	cuius?[i]
Dative	cuī?
Ablative	quō?

Relative pronouns[edit]

	quī, quae, quod who, which, that
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	quī	quae	quod	quī	quae	quae
Accusative	quem	quam	quōs	quās
Genitive	cuius[i]	quōrum	quārum	quōrum
Dative	cuī	quibus
Ablative	quō	quā	quō

Adjectives[edit]

First- and second-declension adjectives[edit]

First- and second-declension adjectives are inflected in the masculine, the feminine and the neuter; the masculine form typically ends in -us (although some end in -er, see below), the feminine form ends in -a, and the neuter form ends in -um. Therefore, some adjectives are given like altus, alta, altum.

Adjectives ending -ius use the vocative -ie (ēbrie, «[O] drunk man», vocative of ēbrius), just as in Old Latin all -ius nouns did (fīlie, «[O] son», archaic vocative of fīlius).

	altus, alta, altum high, long, tall
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	altus	alta	altum	altī	altae	alta
Vocative	alte
Accusative	altum	altam	altōs	altās
Genitive	altī	altae	altī	altōrum	altārum	altōrum
Dative	altō	altō	altīs
Ablative	altā

First- and second-declension -r adjectives[edit]

Some first- and second-declension adjectives’ masculine forms end in -er. As with second-declension -r nouns, some adjectives retain the e throughout inflection, and some omit it. Sacer, sacra, sacrum omits its e while miser, misera, miserum keeps it.

	miser, misera, miserum sad, poor, unhappy
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	miser	misera	miserum	miserī	miserae	misera
Vocative
Accusative	miserum	miseram	miserōs	miserās
Genitive	miserī	miserae	miserī	miserōrum	miserārum	miserōrum
Dative	miserō	miserō	miserīs
Ablative	miserā

	sacer, sacra, sacrum sacred, holy
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	sacer	sacra	sacrum	sacrī	sacrae	sacra
Vocative
Accusative	sacrum	sacram	sacrōs	sacrās
Genitive	sacrī	sacrae	sacrī	sacrōrum	sacrārum	sacrōrum
Dative	sacrō	sacrō	sacrīs
Ablative	sacrā

First and second declension pronominal adjectives[edit]

Nine first and second declension pronominal adjectives are irregular in the genitive and the dative in all genders. They can be remembered by using the mnemonic acronym ūnus nauta. They are:

• ūllus, ūlla, ūllum ‘any’;
• nūllus, nūlla, nūllum ‘no, none’;
• uter, utra, utrum ‘which [of two], either’;
• sōlus, sōla, sōlum ‘sole, alone’;
• neuter, neutra, neutrum ‘neither’;
• alius, alia, aliud ‘another’ (the genitive singular alīus is often replaced by alterīus or by aliēnus ‘of another’);^[23]
• ūnus, ūna, ūnum ‘one’;
• tōtus, tōta, tōtum ‘whole’;
• alter, altera, alterum ‘other [of two]’.

	ūllus, ūlla, ūllum any
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ūllus	ūlla	ūllum	ūllī	ūllae	ūlla
Accusative	ūllum	ūllam	ūllōs	ūllās
Genitive	ūllīus	ūllōrum	ūllārum	ūllōrum
Dative	ūllī	ūllīs
Ablative	ūllō	ūllā	ūllō

Third-declension adjectives[edit]

Third-declension adjectives are normally declined like third-declension i-stem nouns, except for the fact they usually have -ī rather than -e in the ablative singular (unlike i-stem nouns, in which only pure i-stems have -ī). Some adjectives, however, like the one-ending vetus, veteris (‘old, aged’), have -e in the ablative singular, -um in the genitive plural, and -a in the nominative and accusative neuter plural.

Third-declension adjectives with one ending[edit]

These have a single nominative ending for all genders, although as usual the endings for the other cases vary. As with nouns, a genitive is given for the purpose of showing the inflection.

	atrōx, atrōx terrible, mean, cruel
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	atrōx	atrōx	atrōcēs	atrōcia
Vocative
Accusative	atrōcem	atrōcēs atrōcīs
Genitive	atrōcis	atrōcium
Dative	atrōcī	atrōcibus
Ablative

Non-i-stem variant[edit]

	vetus, vetus old, aged
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	vetus	vetus	veterēs	vetera
Vocative
Accusative	veterem
Genitive	veteris	veterum
Dative	veterī	veteribus
Ablative	vetere

Third-declension adjectives with two endings[edit]

Third-declension adjectives that have two endings have one form for the masculine and feminine, and a separate form for the neuter. The ending for the masculine and feminine is -is, and the ending for the neuter is -e. It is not necessary to give the genitive, as it is the same as the nominative masculine singular.

	agilis, agile nimble, swift
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	agilis	agile	agilēs	agilia
Vocative
Accusative	agilem	agilēs agilīs
Genitive	agilis	agilium
Dative	agilī	agilibus
Ablative

Third-declension adjectives with three endings[edit]

Third-declension adjectives with three endings have three separate nominative forms for all three genders. Like third and second declension -r nouns, the masculine ends in -er. The feminine ends in -ris, and the neuter ends in -re. The genitive is the same as the nominative feminine singular.

	celer, celeris, celere swift, rapid, brash
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	celer	celeris	celere	celerēs	celeria
Vocative
Accusative	celerem
Genitive	celeris	celerium
Dative	celerī	celeribus
Ablative

	alacer, alacris, alacre lively, jovial, animated
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	alacer	alacris	alacre	alacrēs	alacria
Vocative
Accusative	alacrem	alacrēs alacrīs
Genitive	alacris	alacrium
Dative	alacrī	alacribus
Ablative

Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives[edit]

As in English, adjectives have superlative and comparative forms. For regular first and second declension and third declension adjectives with one or two endings, the comparative is formed by adding -ior for the masculine and feminine, and -ius for the neuter to the stem. The genitives for both are formed by adding -iōris. Therefore, they are declined in the third declension, but they are not declined as i-stems. Superlatives are formed by adding -issimus, -issima, -issimum to the stem and are thus declined like first and second declension adjectives.

General pattern for comparatives[edit]

	altior, altius higher, deeper (comparative of altus)
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	altior	altius	altiōrēs	altiōra
Vocative
Accusative	altiōrem
Genitive	altiōris	altiōrum
Dative	altiōrī	altiōribus
Ablative	altiōre

	altissimus, altissima, altissimum highest, deepest (superlative of altus)
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	altissimus	altissima	altissimum	altissimī	altissimae	altissima
Vocative	altissime
Accusative	altissimum	altissimam	altissimōs	altissimās
Genitive	altissimī	altissimae	altissimī	altissimōrum	altissimārum	altissimōrum
Dative	altissimō	altissimō	altissimīs
Ablative	altissimā

Comparatives and superlatives with normal endings[edit]

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
clārus, clāra, clārum (‘clear, bright, famous’)	clārior, clārius	clārissimus, clārissima, clārissimum
frīgidus, frīgida, frīgidum (‘cold, chilly’)	frīgidior, frīgidius	frīgidissimus, frīgidissima, frīgidissimum
pugnāx, pugnāx (pugnācis) (‘pugnacious’)	pugnācior, pugnācius	pugnācissimus, pugnācissima, pugnācissimum
benevolēns, benevolēns (benevolentis) (‘kind, benevolent’)	benevolentior, benevolentius	benevolentissimus, benevolentissima, benevolentissium
fortis, forte (‘strong, robust’)	fortior, fortius	fortissimus, fortissima, fortissimum
aequālis, aequāle (‘equal, even’)	aequālior, aequālius	aequālissimus, aequālissima, aequālissimum

Comparatives and superlatives of -er adjectives[edit]

Adjectives (in the first and second as well as third declensions) that have masculine nominative singular forms ending in -er are slightly different. As with normal adjectives, the comparative is formed by adding -ior to the stem, but for the superlative, -rimus is added to the nominative masculine singular.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum (‘pretty, beautiful’)	pulchrior, pulchrius	pulcherrimus, pulcherrima, pulcherrimum
sacer, sacra, sacrum (‘sacred, holy’)	sacrior, sacrius	sacerrimus, sacerrima, sacerrimum
tener, tenera, tenerum (‘delicate, tender’)	tenerior, tenerius	tenerrimus, tenerrima, tenerrimum
ācer, ācris, ācre (‘valliant, fierce’)	ācrior, ācrius	ācerrimus, ācerrima, ācerrimum
celeber, celebris, celebre (‘celebrated, famous’)	celebrior, celebrius	celeberrimus, celeberrima, celeberrimum
celer, celeris, celere (‘quick, fast’)	celerior, celerius	celerrimus, celerrima, celerrimum

Comparatives and superlatives of -lis adjectives[edit]

Some third declension adjectives with two endings in -lis in the masculine–feminine nominative singular have irregular superlative forms. The following are the only adjectives that do.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
facilis, facile (‘easy’)	facilior, facilius	facillimus, facillima, facillimum
difficilis, difficile (‘hard, difficult’)	difficilior, difficilius	difficillimus, difficillima, difficillimum
similis, simile (‘similar, like)	similior, similius	simillimus, simillima, simillimum
dissimilis, dissimile (‘unlike, dissimilar’)	dissimilior, dissimilius	dissimillimus, dissimillima, dissimillimum
gracilis, gracile (‘slender, slim’)	gracilior, gracilius	gracillimus, gracillima, gracillimum
humilis, humile (‘low, humble’)	humilior, humilius	humillimus, humillima, humillimum

Comparatives and superlatives of -eus/-ius adjectives[edit]

First and second declension adjectives that end in -eus or -ius are unusual in that they do not form the comparative and superlative by taking endings at all. Instead, magis (‘more’) and maximē (‘most’), the comparative and superlative degrees of magnoperē (‘much, greatly’), respectively, are used.

Many adjectives in -uus, except those in -quus or -guus, also follow this rule.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
idōneus, idōnea, idōneum (‘suitable, fitting, proper’)	magis idōneus	maximē idōneus
sōlitārius, sōlitāria, sōlitārium (‘solitary, lonely’)	magis sōlitārius	maximē sōlitārius
ebrius, ebria, ebrium (‘drunk’)	magis ebrius	maximē ebrius
meritōrius, meritōria, meritōrium (‘meritorious’)	magis meritōrius	maximē meritōrius
grāmineus, grāminea, grāmineum (‘grassy’)	magis grāmineus	maximē grāmineus
bellātōrius, bellātōria, bellātōrium (‘warlike, bellicose’)	magis bellātōrius	maximē bellātōrius
arduus, ardua, arduum (‘lofty, steep’)	magis arduus	maximē arduus

Irregular comparatives and superlatives[edit]

As in most languages, Latin has adjectives that have irregular comparatives and superlatives.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
bonus, bona, bonum (‘good’)	melior, melius (‘better’)	optimus, optima, optimum (‘best’)
malus, mala, malum (‘bad, evil’)	pēior, pēius (‘worse’)	pessimus, pessima, pessimum (‘worst’)
magnus, magna, magnum (‘great, large’)	māior, māius (‘greater’)	maximus, maxima, maximum (‘greatest’)
parvus, parva, parvum (‘small, slight’)	minor, minus (‘lesser’)	minimus, minima, minimum (‘least’)
multus, multa, multum (‘much, many’)	plūs[i] (‘more’)	plūrimus, plūrima, plūrimum (‘most’)
propinquus, propinqua, propinquum (‘near, close’)	propior, propius (‘nearer’)	proximus, proxima, proximum (‘nearest, next’)
mātūrus, mātūra, mātūrum (‘ripe, mature’)	mātūrior, mātūrius (‘riper’)	mātūrrimus, mātūrrima, mātūrrimum[ii] (‘ripest’)
nēquam[iii] (‘worthless’)	nēquior, nēquius (‘more worthless’)	nēquissimus, nēquissima, nēquissimum (‘most worthless’)
posterus, postera, posterum (‘next, future’)	posterior, posterius (‘later’)	postrēmus, postrēma, postrēmum (‘last, latest’) postumus, postuma, postumum
superus, supera, superum (‘above’)	superior, superius (‘upper’)	suprēmus, suprēma, suprēmum (‘uppermost’) summus, summa, summum
exterus, extera, exterum (‘outward’)	exterior, exterius (‘outer’)	extrēmus, extrēma, extrēmum (‘outermost’) extimus, extima, extimum
īnferus, īnfera, īnferum (‘below’)	īnferior, īnferius (‘lower’)	īnfimus, īnfima, īnfimum (‘lowest’) īmus, īma, īmum
senex, senis (‘old, aged’)	senior (‘older, elder’)	maximus nātū, minima nātū (‘oldest, eldest’)
iuvenis, iuvenis (‘young, youthful’)	iuvenior (‘younger’) iūnior	minimus nātū, minima nātū (‘youngest’)[iv]

Declension of numerals[edit]

There are several different kinds of numeral words in Latin: the two most common are cardinal numerals and ordinal numerals. There are also several more rare numerals, e.g., distributive numerals and adverbial numerals.

Cardinal numerals[edit]

All cardinal numerals are indeclinable, except ūnus (‘one’), duo (‘two’), trēs (‘three’), plural hundreds ducentī (‘two hundred’), trecentī (‘three hundred’) etc., and mīlle (‘thousand’), which have cases and genders like adjectives. Ūnus, ūna, ūnum is declined like a first- and second-declension pronoun with -īus or -ius in the genitive, and -ī in the dative. Duo is declined irregularly, trēs is declined like a third-declension plural adjective, -centī (‘hundred’) numerals decline like first- and second-declension adjectives, and mīlle is invariable in the singular and declined like a third-declension i-stem neuter noun in the plural:

The plural endings for ūnus are used with plūrālia tantum nouns, e. g. ūna castra (one [military] camp), ūnae scālae (one ladder).

	ūnus, ūna, ūnum one
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ūnus	ūna	ūnum	ūnī	ūnae	ūna
Vocative	ūne
Accusative	ūnum	ūnam	ūnōs	ūnās
Genitive	ūnīus / ūnius	ūnōrum	ūnārum	ūnōrum
Dative	ūnī	ūnīs
Ablative	ūnō	ūnā	ūnō

The word ambō (‘both’), is declined like duo except that its o is long. Both declensions derive from the Indo-European dual number, otherwise defunct in Latin, rather than the plural.

	duo, duae, duo two
Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	duo	duae	duo
Vocative
Accusative	duōs duo	duās
Genitive	duōrum	duārum	duōrum
Dative	duōbus	duābus	duōbus
Ablative

	ambō, ambae, ambō both
Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ambō	ambae	ambō
Vocative
Accusative	ambōs ambō	ambās
Genitive	ambōrum	ambārum	ambōrum
Dative	ambōbus	ambābus	ambōbus
Ablative

	trēs, tria three
Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	trēs	tria
Vocative
Accusative	trēs / trīs
Genitive	trium
Dative	tribus
Ablative

The numeral centum (‘one hundred’) is indeclinable, but all the other hundred numerals are declinable (ducentī, trecentī, quadringentī, quīngentī, sescentī, septingentī, octingentī, nōngentī).

	ducentī, ducentae, ducenta two hundred
Plural
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ducentī	ducentae	ducenta
Vocative
Accusative	ducentōs	ducentās
Genitive	ducentōrum	ducentārum	ducentōrum
Dative	ducentīs
Ablative

The word mīlle ‘thousand’ is a singular indeclinable adjective. However, its plural, mīlia, is a plural third-declension i-stem neuter noun. To write the phrase «four thousand horses» in Latin, the genitive is used: quattuor mīlia equōrum, literally, «four thousands of horses».

	mīlle (one) thousand	mīlia, mīlium x thousand, thousands
Nominative	mīlle	mīlia mīllia	-ia
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	mīlium mīllium	-ium
Dative	mīlibus mīllibus	-ibus
Ablative

The rest of the numbers are indeclinable whether used as adjectives or as nouns.

For further information on the different sets of Latin numerals, see Latin numerals (linguistics).

Adverbs and their comparatives and superlatives[edit]

Adverbs are not declined. However, adverbs must be formed if one wants to make an adjective into an adverb.

Adverbs from first- and second-declension adjectives[edit]

First and second declension adjectives’ adverbs are formed by adding -ē onto their stems.

Adjective	Adverb
clārus, clāra, clārum (‘clear, famous’)	clārē (‘clearly, famously’)
validus, valida, validum (‘strong, robust’)	validē (‘strongly, robustly’)
īnfīrmus, īnfīrma, īnfīrmum (‘weak’)	īnfīrmē (‘weakly’)
solidus, solida, solidum (‘complete, firm’)	solidē (‘completely, firmly’)
integer, integra, integrum (‘whole, fresh’)	integrē (‘wholly, freshly’)
līber, lībera, līberum (‘free’)	līberē (‘freely’)

Adverbs from third declension adjectives[edit]

Typically, third declension adjectives’ adverbs are formed by adding -iter to the stem. However, most third declension adjectives with one ending simply add -er to the stem.

Adjective	Adverb
prūdēns, prūdēns (prūdentis) (‘prudent’)	prūdenter (‘prudently’)
audāx, audāx (audācis) (‘bold’)	audācter (‘boldly’)
virīlis, virīle (‘courageous, spirited’)	virīliter (‘courageously, spiritedly’)
salūbris, salūbre (‘wholesome’)	salūbriter (‘wholesomely’)

Comparative and superlative of adverbs[edit]

Adverbs’ comparative forms are identical to the nominative neuter singular of the corresponding comparative adjective. Adverbs’ superlative forms are simply formed by attaching the regular ending -ē to the corresponding superlative adjective. As with their corresponding adjectival forms, first and second declensions adjectives ending in -eus or -ius use magis and maximē as opposed to distinct endings.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
clārē (‘clearly, famously’)	clārius	clārissimē
solidē (‘completely, firmly’)	solidius	solidissimē
idōneē (‘suitably, properly’)	magis idōneē	maximē idōneē
prudenter (‘prudently’)	prudentius	prudentissimē
salūbriter (‘wholesomely’)	salūbrius	salūbrissimē

Irregular adverbs and their comparative and superlative forms[edit]

As with adjectives, there are irregular adverbs with peculiar comparative and superlative forms.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
bene (‘well’)	melius (‘better’)	optimē (‘best’)
male (‘badly, ill’)	peius (‘worse’)	pessimē (‘worst’)
magnopere (‘greatly’)	magis (‘more’)	maximē (‘most’)
multum (‘much, a lot’)	plūs (‘more’)	plūrimum (‘most’)
parvum (‘little’)	minus (‘less’)	minimē (‘least’)
nēquiter (‘worthlessly’)	nēquius (‘more worthlessly’)	nēquissimē (‘most worthlessly’)
saepe (‘often’)	saepius (‘more often’)	saepissimē (‘most often’)
mātūrē (‘seasonably, betimes’)	mātūrius (‘more seasonably’)	māturrimē (‘most seasonably’)
prope (‘near’)	propius (‘nearer’)	proximē (‘nearest, next’)
nūper (‘recently’)	—	nūperrimē (‘most recently, previously’)
potis (‘possible’)	potius (‘rather’)	potissimē (‘especially’)
—	prius (‘before, previously’)	prīmō (‘first’)
secus (‘otherwise’)	sētius sequius (‘less’)	—

Peculiarities within declension[edit]

Irregularity in number[edit]

Some nouns are only used in the singular (singulare tantum) such as:

• materials, such as aurum ‘gold’

Some nouns are only used in the plural (plurale tantum), or when plural have a singular meaning such as:

• many festivals, such as Saturnālia ‘Saturnalia’
• castra ‘camp’ and arma ‘arms’; litterae ‘a letter’ (cf. littera ‘letter of the alphabet’)
• a few geographical names are plural such as Thēbae ‘Thebes’ (both the Greek and the Egyptian cities)

Indeclinable nouns[edit]

Indeclinable nouns are nouns which only have one form in all cases (of the singular).

• fās (‘divine law’)
• īnstar (‘likeness’)
• māne (‘morning’)
• nefās (‘sin, abomination’)
• secus (‘(male or female) sex’)

Heterogeneous nouns[edit]

Heterogeneous nouns are nouns which vary in respect to gender.

• A few nouns in the second declension occur in both the neuter and masculine. However, their meanings remain the same.
• Some nouns are one gender in the singular, but become another gender in the plural. They may also change in meaning.

Singular	Plural
balneum n. (‘bath’)	balneae f. or balnea n. (‘bathhouse’)
epulum n. (‘feast, banquet’)	epulae f. (‘feast, banquet’)
frēnum n. (‘bridle, curb’)	frēnī m. bridle, curb
iocus m. (‘joke, jest’)	ioca n. or ioci m. (‘jokes, fun’)
locus m. (‘place, location’)	loca n. (‘region’); locī m. (‘places in books, arguments’)
rāstrum n. (‘hoe, rake’)	rāstrī m. (‘hoes, rakes’)

Plurals with alternative meanings[edit]

Singular	Plural
aedēs, aedis f. (‘building, temple’)	aedēs, aedium (‘rooms, house’)
auxilium, auxiliī n. (‘help, aid’)	auxilia, auxiliōrum (‘auxiliary troops’)
carcer, carceris m. (‘prison, cell’)	carcerēs, carcerum (‘starting traps’)
castrum, castrī n. (‘fort, castle, fortress’)	castra, castrōrum (‘military camp, encampment’)
cōpia, copiae f. (‘plenty, much, abundance’)	cōpiae, copiārum (‘troops’)
fortūna, fortūnae f. (‘luck, chance’)	fortūnae, fortūnārum (‘wealth, fortune’)
grātia, grātiae f. (‘charm, favor’)	grātiae, grātiārum (‘thanks’)
impedīmentum, impedīmentī m. (‘impediment, hindrance’)	impedīmenta, impedīmentōrum (‘baggage, baggage train’)
littera, litterae f. (‘letter [alphabet]’)	litterae, litterārum (‘letter [message], epistle, scholarship, literature’)
mōs, mōris m. (‘habit, inclination’)	mōrēs, mōrum m. (‘morals, character’)
opera, operae f. (‘trouble, pains’)	operae, operārum m. (‘workmen’)
*ops, opis f.[i] (‘help’)	opēs, opium (‘resources, wealth’)
pars, partis f. (‘part, piece’)	partēs, partium (‘office, function’)

See also[edit]

• Declension of Greek nouns in Latin
• Latin conjugation
• Latin mnemonics
• William Whitaker’s Words
• Greek declension

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• New Latin Grammar, an eBook, originally written by Charles Edwin Bennett, at the Project Gutenberg
• Interactive Latin Word Endings
• A Student’s Latin Grammar, by Cambridge Latin Course’s Robin m. Griffin, third edition
• Gildersleeve, B. L.; Gonzalez Lodge (1895). Gildersleeve’s Latin Grammar (3rd ed.). Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-09215-5.
• Greenough, J. B.; G. L. Kittredge; A. A. Howard; Benj. L. D’Ooge (1903). Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges. Ginn and Company.

In Latin, nouns are inflected based on their number (singular or plural), gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter/neutral), and case (how they are used in the sentence. See “Latin Noun Cases” below).

When Latin nouns are inflected, the first part of the word (the stem), stays the same, and the endings change.

Example: filia (“daughter”) changes to filiam, filiae, etc.

fili— is the stem; -a, —am, and —ae are the endings.

Latin Noun Cases

Noun cases describe how a noun is used in a sentence. In Latin, there are five main cases: Nominative, Genitive, Accusative, Dative, and Ablative.

Nominative:

The subject of the sentence; the noun that does the action. For example:

I baptized Jacob.

“I” is in the nominative case.

If the verb in the sentence is passive instead of active (e.g. “was baptized” instead of “baptized”), the nominative still acts as the subject of the sentence and pairs with the being verb (e.g. was, were). For example:

Jacob was baptized by me.

“Jacob” is in the nominative case.

Generius and Magdalena were joined in marriage.

“Generius” and “Magdalena” are in the nominative case.

Any noun in the sentence that further identifies the noun subject is also nominative. For example:

I, Joseph, priest of this church, baptized Jacob.

“I” is the subject. “Joseph” and “priest” are nouns further identifying the subject. They are all in the nominative case.

The godparents were Jacob and Maria.

“godparents” is the subject. “Jacob” and “Maria” are nouns further identifying the subject. They are all in the nominative case.

This is also the main case form that is used when referring to the noun in dictionaries. For example, you will most often find the word for “son” in its nominative singular form: filius.

Genitive:

A noun that is possessive or descriptive. The genitive has several different uses, but it can be reliably translated as “of ____”

Legitimate son of Jacob.

“Jacob” is in the genitive case.

The fourth day of the month.

“month” is in the genitive case.

Franciscus, farm laborer of the place of Seva.

“place” and “Seva” are in the genitive case.

In Latin there is no word for “of.” Instead, it expressed completely within the genitive. For example, the genitive filii is translated “of the son.”

Accusative:

The direct object; the noun that is acted upon in the sentence.

I baptized Jacob.

“Jacob” is in the accusative case.

With neuter nouns, the accusative form is always the same as the nominative form. Remember that the nominative is the subject of the sentence and the accusative is the direct object when you are translating them.

Dative:

A noun that receives, usually with a verb of giving, translated as “to ______”

A burial was given to the body of Franciscus.

“body” is in the dative case.

Since the dative usually accompanies a verb of giving, you may expect to find a noun in the dative case if you find any form of do, dare, the Latin verb “give.” The most common forms of this verb that you may find are dedi (“I gave”), dedit (“he/she gave”), and datus/-a/-um est (“it was given”).

Ablative:

Appears with prepositions like “in” or “on”; usually appears as dates and places in genealogical documents.

They were married on Sunday.

“Sunday” is in the ablative case.

Franciscus was buried in the cemetery.

“cemetery” is in the ablative case.

There is also the ablative of agent, which shows that something was done by somebody; it usually accompanies a passive verb and follows the Latin preposition a or ab (“by”).

He was baptized by me.

“me” is in the ablative case.

If you see the words in («in, on») or a/ab («by») in a document, the following word or phrase will most likely include an ablative.

Common Latin Noun Endings

Besides being divided by case, number, and gender, Latin nouns are divided into broader categories called declensions. There are five declensions total, but the first declension, second declension, and third declension are the most common. Noun endings vary based on the declension. Here are the endings for these nouns:

Some Latin dictionaries will tell you the declension of the noun, which helps with identifying the endings and how the word is being used.

Uncommon Latin Noun Endings

Fourth declension and fifth declension nouns in Latin are less common. But they may show up in Latin documents. They have some endings that are different from the more common ones:

If you look a word up in a dictionary, and it says that the word is fourth or fifth declension, the word will use these endings.

A fifth declension word that you will see in Latin documents is dies (pronounced “dee-ays,” translated “day”). It is used in dates, most often in the ablative singular case.

For example: Die quarta mensis Septembris. “On the fourth day of the month of September.”

Die is in the ablative singular case, with the ending —e.

10 Replies

Words with Latin endings can be confusing to spell. To get a handle on them, I like to organise them into groups:

“sh” sound Latin endings

• Many, many words have the sound “sh” spelt “ti” as in “action”, “cautious” and “patient”.
• Some others are spelt with “ci” as in “special”, “magician” and “vicious”.
• A third group are spelt with “si” as n “mansion”, “tension” and “extension”.
• A fourth group are spelt with “ssi” as in “mission”, “passion” and “discussion”.

Some spelling reformers would have us spell all these words with “sh” – “acshon”, “speshal”, “manshon”, “mishon” etc, like rappers do. But I hope this table makes their current spellings seem more logical:

ti	ci	ssi	si
act-action opt-option quest-question collect-collection construct-construction complete-completion destruct-destruction devote-devotion direct-direction elect-election exhibit-exhibition emote-emotion inert-inertia infect-infectious invent-invention object-objection predict-prediction protect-protection react-reaction select-selection associate-association communicate-communication contribute-contribution create-creation distribute-distribution generate-generation institute-institution investigate-investigation operate-operation populate-population promote-promotion relate-relation situate-situation	face-facial grace-gracious race-racial clinic-clinician commerce-commercial finance-financial magic-magician mathematic-mathematician music-musician office-official optic-optician suffice-sufficient tactic-tactician artifice-artificial politic-politician obstetric-obstetrician paediatric-paediatrician province-provincial prejudice-prejudicial sacrifice-sacrificial	aggress-aggression compress-compression concuss-concussion confess-confession depress-depression digress-digression discuss-discussion express-expression impress-impression obsess-obsession oppress-oppression possess-possession process-procession profess-profession progress-progression regress-regression repossess-repossession repress-repression suppress-suppression transgress-transgression	ascend-ascension condescend-condescension expand-expansion extend-extension pretend-pretension suspend-suspension apprehend-apprehension collude-collusion comprehend-comprehension conclude-conclusion decide-decision deride-derision divide-division erode-erosion evade-evasion exclude-exclusion explode-explosion include-inclusion intrude-intrusion invade-invasion provide-provision seclude-seclusion

It’s important to remember that these are common patterns, not reliable rules. Tell me any spelling rule and I’ll tell you about its exceptions. In this case, we also have substance-substantial, licence-licentious, permit-permission and recede-recession.

However, patterns are useful things to learn, to get your head around the majority of words. Once you have the main patterns down pat (so to speak) the words that don’t fit these patterns stand out, and are also easier to learn in small groups.

To teach “sh” sound Latin suffixes, I’d rule up my whiteboard into four columns just like the table above, with the same headings (ti, ci, si, ssi).

Next, I’d write lots of words containing these spellings on little bits of paper or card (maybe post-it notes, which can be stuck under the headings on the board) and get the student(s) to sort them into each of the categories. I’d choose words the students are likely to know from the lists on this website, and you can do this too:

• Click here for words with “ti” spellings of the sound “sh”,
• Click here for words with “ci” spellings of the sound “sh”,
• Click here for words with the “ssi” spelling of the sound “sh”,
• Click here for words with the “si” spelling of the sound “sh”,

Once you have all the words grouped in categories on the board, ask the students to rule these four columns up on their own page, and write the words down, saying each sound as they write it. They should always say the unstressed vowels as they are spelt e.g. “tensiOn” but “patiEnt” and “magiciAn”.

If you have learners in the class who finish well ahead of the others, and you don’t have any pencils needing sharpening or errands needing to be run, ask them to ponder a mixture of additional words with the following spellings:

• “ce” as in “cetacean”, “crustacean” and “herbaceous” – click here for more,
• “sci” as in “conscious” and “luscious”
• “xi” as in “anxious”, “complexion” and “obnoxious” – click here for more.
• “shi” as in “cushion” and “fashion”

They might need to make some new headings over the page, and write extra lists.

“zh” sound Latin endings

There are also a few words in English which have “si” representing the sound “zh”, as in “Asia”, “vision” and “decision”.

This sound can also be represented with just an “s” as in “treasure”, “exposure” and “usual”.

It’s possible to do a similar sorting activity with these words, perhaps throwing in the “ge” spelling of this sound, and maybe a few outliers like “seizure” and “equation”. Click here for all the different ways this French sound is spelt in English.

These are all middle or ending spellings, as we don’t put the sound “zh” at the start of words in English, though it’s common in French (think “gendarme”, “jardin” and “Je suis un rockstar”).

“ch” sound Latin endings

Another very common Latin ending is “-ture”, as in “did you capture a picture of the vulture?”, which in Australian English is nowadays pronounced “chuh”. This probably makes the Samuel Johnson with no “t” spin in his grave, but there you go, language is dynamic. If we went around saying the “ture” to rhyme with “pure” these days, other people would think we had tickets on ourselves.

However, when they are spelling words with this ending, I like to encourage learners to say these words in their “spelling voices” in the way that Dr Johnson probably did, with a “t” not a “ch”, and rhyming with “pure” and “cure”.

Click here for a list of words with this spelling pattern.

“j” sound Latin endings

A few words are spelt with a “gi” for the sound “j”, as in “region”, “contagious” and “hemiplegia”.

Click here if you want a list.

I think that’s the main Latin endings covered, but if you know of others, or know of better ways to teach these, I’d be very interested to hear about them.

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Latin is a heavily inflected language, which means that Latin indicates grammatical information by changing the ending of the words. Nouns are grouped into 5 declensions (noun inflection groups), verbs can be classified into 4 conjugations (verb inflection groups).

In order to compose Latin sentences, you must be familiar with the dictionary form of the Latin nouns and the dictionary form of the verbs so that you can identify what declension or conjugation they belong to. These are essential things to understand before you start using Latin words in sentences.

How does Latin use the words in sentences? Does it place them in a particular word order to express grammatical function, such as subject and object? No, it doesn’t, and that’s the big difference between Latin and English. English uses word order to express who is the subject (the performer, who does something) or the object (which is what the action is being done to, for example, «reading a book», where «book» is the object). In English, the object is always placed after the verb, word order determines whether a word is an object or not. Latin, however, uses word ending to express grammatical function, such as the object. Latin differentiates subject from object by word ending, i.e. by inflections which are called declension.

When you use a noun in a sentence, first you have to determine which declension the noun belongs to. If you have identified the declension, you must use the appropriate word ending, i.e. the proper case in respect to what grammatical function the noun has to serve in your sentence.

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension

In Latin, the subject form of a noun is called the ‘nominative case’. Learn more here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Nominative

The object form of a noun is called the ‘accusative case’ in Latin. Check this out, on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Accusative

The Latin possessive form of a noun is called ‘genitive case’. We learned about it when studying the dictionary forms of nouns. We know why the genitive is so important: the genitive ending differentiates what declension a noun belongs to. Therefore the genitive of each noun is given in the dictionary, and when somebody learns Latin nouns, he learns the genitive of the noun together with the first dictionary form, the nominative, because without knowing the genitive of the word, you could not know which declination it belongs to, and thus you could not decline the word, which means you could not use the word in a sentence. Learn more about genitive here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Genitive

The indirect object expresses the recipient of an action, like in the following sentence: I give a book to Hortensius — where «to Hortensius» is the indirect object. In Latin, the indirect object form of a noun is called the ‘dative case’. Learn more here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Dative

The adverbial form of a noun is called the ‘ablative case’ in Latin. The ablative can express time, manner, place, cause and similar adverbials. Check this out, on our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Ablative

When using a verb in a sentence, first you have to determine which conjugation the verb belongs to. If you have identified the conjugation, you must use the appropriate word ending respectively to the person and number, time (the tenses) and mood (indicative, imperative or subjunctive), and voice (active or passive) according to what the verb has to express in your sentence.

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

Unlike English, Latin uses verb endings to express the person and number of the verb, and its tense or mood. These endings are in general the same for all conjugation groups, but there is some variation respectively to the stem vowel, which means that while, e.g. the singular third person ending is «-t» in all conjugations, in the 1st conjugation it’s realized as «-at», because it’s the A-Stem conjugation, in the 2nd conjugation it’s «-et», (as they are the E-Stem) etc.

Please study carefully how the conjugations work in Present Tense:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Present_tense

But how to start writing simple Latin sentences? Let’s clarify four rules about Latin sentences.

1. Word order

There is absolutely no obligatory word order in Latin. You can place the words in any particular order. It means that you can not screw up a Latin sentence’s word order — but you must be informed that any change in the word order indicates a slightly different emphasis in the sentence. Normal, non-emphatic Latin sentences tend to display a «Subject — Adverbial — Object — Verb» word order. But it’s not our level of knowledge, and we will not engage in this depth of Latin grammar. So, for now, write as you like. It can’t be wrong.

2. Word endings — using the cases of the declensions

That’s a bit more difficult. Latin is a heavily inflected language, which means that Latin indicates grammatical function such as «subject» and «object», by changing the ending of the words. English uses word order to express who is the subject (the performer, who does something) or the object (which is what the action is being done to, for example, «reading a book», where «book» is the object). In English, the object is always placed after the verb, word order determines whether a word is an object or not. Latin, however, uses the accusative word ending to express the object of the sentence. Latin differentiates subject from object (or any grammatical function) by word ending. You must use —

— the nominative form for expressing subject («CICERO writes a letter.»),

— the accusative ending to express an object (Cicero writes A LETTER.»),

— the genitive for possession («It’s CICERO’S letter.»),

— the dative for indirect object, («Cicero writes a letter TO BRUTUS.»)

— and the ablative for various adverbials («Cicero writes a letter BY HAND/ON PAPYRUS/FOR FUN/etc.»).

3. Word endings — using the personal endings of the conjugations

We have said that unlike English, Latin uses verb endings to express the person and number of the verb, and its tense or mood. You must identify who performs the action described by the verb of the sentence: I, you, he/she/it, we, you (plural) or they. Once it’s determined, you will use the proper personal endings, respectively to the conjugation which the verb belongs to.

4. Articles

There are no articles in Latin. There is no definite (the) or indefinite article (a, an) either. When you write in Latin, you simply forget about them. No rules to be memorized, no problems when to use them or when not to.